American soliders retake the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese

In the summer of 1942 Japanese forces attacked several of the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. Almost a year later, American soldiers retook Attu after bitter fighting.
This clip is from the digital multimedia version of Ordinary Heroes: Six Stars in the Window (www.sixstarsinthewindow.com).

Category:

Film & Animation

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• world
• war
• ii
• wwii
• attu
• aleutian
• dan
• oja
• ordinary
• heroes
• six
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• window

[danaoja]

Yes, the Aleutian Islands were seen as stepping stones for possible attacks or invasion of Alaska and Canada as well as bases for attacks on ships in the Pacific and the West Coast of the US mainland. This may sound unlikely today, but in the early part of the war, the Japanese dominated the Pacific theater and were in a position to pursue such goals.

[danaoja]

Hi TeRRoRx503,

If I understand correctly, your grandfather was in the "ski troops"--the 10th Mountain Infantry Division (although I believe they weren't officially called that until after Kiska.)

I'm very familiar with the 10th as one of the six Koski brothers served in a mortar squad in F Company of the 85th Regiment.

Do you know which outfit your grandfather served with?

I can try to help you find out more about his service if you like. Just drop me a note.

[bashfulbrother]

I, too, had a father that fought the entire campaign.

He told stories about the weather alone there that would make anyone cringe.

He said that when they landed at Massacre Bay they put up their tent and were to get some sleep. He woke up about 2 hours later to a horrible stench. They had placed the stove on top of a Japanese soldier who had been killed the day before. The fresh snow had covered all evidence of the bodies.

[123ahren]

My father is a sergeant who fought in the Aleutians islands he said its is very cold out there

[joshuabbell]

If you are a descendant of a Veteran who fought or was stationed on the Aleutian Islands please check out a Facebook page called Descendants of World War II Aleutian Island Veterans.

[mrsmelzbad]

I beg to differ, Im athinkin the Japs attacked AK to draw attention away from there REAL objectives, dont think they where that stupid to think they could actually capture AK or sneak-up on the rest of the US. My uncle was in Dutch Harbor building "top secret" stuff in '39.

[BroadCastTuber]

U.S. gave a hell of a fight to regain control of it islands.

[formless777]

Perhaps someone can set me straight here... Why did the Japanese invade Attu, and why did the USA go in after them ? What was the tactical or strategic thinking involved ? Did the USA think the Japanese would island hop to Dutch Harbor or Anchorage ? It seems to me such ideas would have been wrong. Tell me there was a reason for all this...

[TeRRoRx503]

my grandpa here he was in the ski troops recon squad